A lower-than-expected demand for the new iPhones and Apple's decision to offer more models has made it difficult to anticipate the number of components and handsets the company needs, according to the WSJ report https://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-suppliers-suffer-as-it-struggles-to-forecast-iphone-demand-1542618587.

Apple shocked investors a few weeks ago with a sales forecast for the Christmas quarter below Wall Street expectations, prompting certain suppliers to issue warnings that pointed to weakness in new iPhone sales.

Another supplier Analog Devices Inc (NasdaqGS:ADI - News) is expected to report fourth-quarter results before markets open on Tuesday.

Apple shares were down 3.7 percent at $186.38 on Monday, while Lumentum, Skyworks Solutions Inc (NasdaqGS:SWKS - News) and Qorvo Inc (NasdaqGS:QRVO - News) were down between 2.7 to 6 percent.

Forecasts have been particularly problematic for iPhone XR with Apple cutting its production plan by up to a third of the nearly 70 million units some suppliers had been asked to produce between September and February, WSJ reported.

As recently as last week, Apple informed several suppliers that it had lowered its production plan again for iPhone XR, the Journal said.

The company started selling its latest generation of phones, the iPhone XS and XS Max, in September and the XR model in October.